Full Name: Hoya carnosa ‘Regalis’
Status: The Accepted & Established name for a unique cultivar
Legal Status: Name established and patented as a legal variety by B.L.Cobia,INC.(1973). Milkweed Plant (Plant Pat. 3,306). United States Patent Office. google.com/patent/USPP3306P/en
Categories: sport mutation, radiation induced, Cobia, ‘Exotica’ lineage, variegated carnosa, legal variety, mass-produced, ‘Compacta’ lineage
Established Synonyms:
Hoya compacta ‘Regalis’
Hoya carnosa ‘Compacta Regalis’
Trademarks & Trade Designations: HINDU ROPE was applied to all Hoyas in this Group grown by B.L.Cobia, Inc., including this one. It was additionally called HINDU ROPE NEW by the company in marketing materials, but this did not appear to transfer to tags (see last document).
Originator, Nominant & Introducer: B.L.Cobia, Inc.
Availability: Mass-produced, especially centered around Florida, U.S.A. where it was first introduced. It remains in high demand and is not a fast growing cultivar. Easily mixed up in the market with Hoya carnosa ‘Marginalis’ (Compacta Group)which does not get the same range of color in the leaf blades.
Excerpt from the Description & Background on the Cultivar:
Hoya carnosa ‘Regalis’ appeared as a sport on Hoya carnosa ‘Marginalis’.
As a subsequent publication of interest, it appears in the Mutant Variety Database as radiation induced.
‘Regalis’ is “distinguishable from this variety [‘Marginalis’-RCC] by a green center field that is overcast with color dominated by relatively long-lasting red, red-purple and/or yellow-red hues of generally low value and low chroma and by relatively long-lasting red-purple, red and yellow-red hues of generally higher value and higher chroma than encountered in the green center field.’
Cobia compares the coloration in ‘Regalis’ to Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’ (paragraph 35 of the patent).
Leaf blades are curled “transversely of the midrib” (ie. folded in half, so that the underside is exposed) compared to ‘Marginalis’ and Hoya carnosa ‘Compacta’.
Notes on the Name: When Cobia patented this, he wrote the name as Hoya carnosa compacta cv.Regalis.
The single most important reason that the actual cultivar epithet is ‘Regalis’, is because ‘Regalis’ as the cultivar epithet was accepted and established by the United States Patent Office, a statutory registration authority which grants legal rights for inventions, and in this case a cultivar also known as a ‘legal variety’. (Principle 5, additionally Article 31.2 Brickell et.al.2016).
The actual epithet for the cultivar itself was written and established as ‘Regalis’. As opposed to allowing that compacta was meant to be a part of the epithet simply because it does not represent a species, or taking an earlier or even weightier publication for this cultivar, the accepted and registered cultivar name is ‘Regalis’ as it was established with the United States Patent Office.
Source Archive:
Below you can view the full color sales brochure from B.L.Cobia, Inc.
This shows ‘Regalis’ and ‘Tricolor’ in the same photo and gives a very nice opportunity to see the color comparison he makes between the two in the patent.
For the full description and comparison against ‘Marginalis’, see the patent below.
